


A Winter Wonderland

by Tori_Scribbles



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: (that's a thing right?), 3am Walmart Trips, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, College Ice Hockey, Disabled Character, Disaster Shopping Trips, Epileptic!Aris, F/F, Families of Choice, Gen, Ice Skating, Shopping Cart Incidents, Snow, Snowball Fight, Unconventional Families, cabin in the mountains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 13:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17023629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tori_Scribbles/pseuds/Tori_Scribbles
Summary: Sonya didn’t know whose idea it was initially. The plan had gone from people not wanting to go home for Christmas or not having a home to visit, to Beth using her inheritance to hire a place at some resort, getting them a cabin in the middle of nowhere complete with an ice rink, because when you were that rich, everything came with an ice rink.So as the sun broke through the horizon on the first day of their winter vacation, they packed up their cars and hit the road.





	A Winter Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FaiaSakura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaiaSakura/gifts).



> For Faia.

Sonya didn’t know whose idea it was initially. The plan had gone from people not wanting to go home for Christmas or not having a home to visit, to Beth using her inheritance to hire a place at some resort, getting them a cabin in the middle of nowhere complete with an ice rink, because when you were that rich, everything came with an ice rink.

So as the sun broke through the horizon on the first day of their winter vacation, they packed up their cars and hit the road.

It was the first time that any of the Dolphin’s had really been away together outside of a couple of trips to friends during summer. But now, the whole team were going together, united in their lack of family and not wanting to spend the holidays alone.

Sonya was the only one who had somewhere to go because Newt always had room for her in his apartment. But Thomas had just moved in and with Minho already as a flatmate and Fry and Gally next door, Sonya didn’t want to step on their toes while they always did their own thing. And although Sonya was Newt’s sister and she counted all of the boys as her brothers in one way or another, years of being apart and not knowing about each other had left her feeling disconnected from their group. So, she found a group of delinquents that she could call her own.

Her, Harriet and Aris were travelling in Harriet’s jeep, leading their little procession of vehicles, the two girls taking turns to drive, while Aris passed out snacks and reminded them to stop for bathroom breaks.

Music was playing softly in the background and most of the journey passed in light conversation or comfortable silences.

As they got further from the city, the skies got paler and the air got sharper. Sonya didn’t know exactly where they were going. She just knew it was remote and expensive.

Aris’ soft gasp in the backseat made Sonya look back over her shoulder at him. They’d been in the car for nearly four hours but she’d thought he’d fallen asleep about an hour ago. His hand was pressed against the window as he looked out with wide, wonder filled eyes and Sonya couldn’t help but smile softly at him while reaching for her phone to snap a quick picture… or five.

“I’ve never seen snow like this before,” he breathed and Sonya had to remind herself that he was from California and not everyone had grown up shovelling snow in Washington State.

“It’s only gonna get thicker,” Harriet said, “wherever it is we’re going is up there in the mountains. I’ll be amazed if Beth’s car gets in without getting stuck.”

Sonya rolled her eyes, glancing in the mirror to see Beth’s sleek Mercedes still cruising along behind them and she wondered if the big jeep was going up these winding roads first for exactly that reason.

“According to the GPS we’re two minutes away,” Sonya said, checking google maps for the millionth time, thankful that she’d downloaded the route because her 4G dropped out about ten miles back.

Harriet turned up an even smaller road and Sonya gasped at the sight in front of them.

The thick rows of trees thinned out into a driveway and they were lit with thousands of little fairy lights, glinting in the snow like shining orbs. At the end of the drive was a dark wooded lodge, too big to really be classified as a cabin with an adjacent barn on the left.

“Beth texted,” Aris said, “she said just park anywhere.”

Harriet nodded, stopping just to the right of the porch steps and Sonya slid her feet back in her boots and started tugging layers back on before they had to leave the heated car. She spared a glance for Aris to make sure he wasn’t just going to get out of the car in his hoodie and when everyone was suitably dressed she opened her door.

The cold was just as bad as she remembered it. It had more of a bite to it than when she was on the ice. It was everywhere. She buried her face in her scarf to try and protect her nose and tugged her bobble hat down over the tips of her ears, an action that made Harriet laugh at her.

Sonya scrunched up her nose and it only made Harriet laugh more.

“Don’t pout, Son,” she said, throwing an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders, and Sonya leant against her side, seeking out the warmth. “I thought ice was your element.”

“This isn’t ice,” Sonya muttered. “This is snow, lots of snow. It’s different.”

Harriet just grinned, tugging her closer as she led them over towards the others.

Sonya couldn’t help but laugh at the weird way Aris was walking. He was talking small steps on the fresh snow like a small child, grinning with glee as his feet sunk through the layers, leaving behind deep footprints.

“Have you really never seen snow before?” Ana asked, hopping down out of the passenger seat of Alejandra’s truck, straightening her ski gloves.

“Only city snow,” Aris said, his voice soft with awe. “Never this thick.”

“Well, it’s only gonna get worse,” Beth repeated Harriet’s earlier sentiment, kicking the snow up and Sonya made a high noise of protest as it flicked on her face.

Aris’ face however lit up and he reached down, with un-gloved hands and scooped up as much snow as he could, not seeming to care about the cold and Harriet dug her fingers into Sonya’s arm to stop her from warning him against it.

“Kid’s gotta learn,” she murmured and Sonya just sighed.

This was going to end in tears.

Aris looked from the snow in his hands to the team around him, his grin growing brighter and they had a split second to duck before he launched it forwards.

Lou and Cleo screamed and Beth swore loudly as she, standing closest to Aris, got a face full of it.

Sonya laughed, shamelessly ducking behind Harriet for cover as the others started to retaliate but Harriet was having none of it, twisting to the side right as Aris through another handful of snow and this time Sonya did scream as it fell past her scarf and down the front of her hoodie.

“What the fuck?!” she said, looking at Harriet with an expression full of betrayal.

Harriet’s face lit up, a rare openness in her expression as she let her walls down. “Love you too, Babe!” she said but Sonya was already reaching for a handful of snow. She pressed it into as much of a ball as she could before launching it at her girlfriend as hard as she could.

Harriet tried to dodge to the side but it hit her leg, leaving a dark, cold, stain on her jeans.

“Oh, now it’s on,” she said and in true Dolphin fashion, chaos erupted.

Snow was thrown in faces and shoved down people’s necks. Threats were made, a hockey stick appeared from the back of one of the cars and so a jacked up game of snow baseball formed with people as bases and they got someone out by just pelting them with snowballs.

And it was all fun and games until Aris tripped.

He landed face first in a pile of snow and didn’t move.

Sonya gave it a second but when he still didn’t move, her stick fell through her fingers and she rushed towards him.

“Aris!” she said sharply, her hand resting on his shoulder. He was twitching but she didn’t know if that was just the cold.

Aris made a soft noise of distress and pushed himself over onto his back. His eyes were closed tightly and Harriet reached out to gently brush the snow off of his face.

“Aris, look at me?” Sonya said softly as the muscles in his face started to spasm.

Aris opened his eyes, looking up at her blearily. “Temperature shock,” he slurred.

“Do you feel one coming?” Harriet asked, her fingers combing through his hair.

Aris hesitated for a beat too long as he processed the question before shaking his head slightly. “I dunno,” he said.

That was enough for Sonya, she waved a familiar sign towards the team and they started to collect up stray hockey sticks and started towards the cabin to open it all up.

“Can you get up?” Sonya asked. “Nobody wants you to get hypothermia as you have a seizure in two feet of snow.”

Aris nodded, looking like he was coming back to it a little bit more. “Yeah, I’m good,” he said, pushing himself upright, he looked slightly dazed for a second before letting Sonya and Harriet take an arm each and pull him up to his feet. Rachel hesitated behind him, ready to catch his head if he went down but he nodded, more to himself than to anyone else and they started to move towards the cabin.

They took it slow on the steps but by the time he got to the top, he was holding himself up mostly on his own.

Sonya gasped softly as they stepped through the door. Thankful for the warmth as they kicked of their sodden boots and dripping jackets. The cabin was beautiful.

Large windows looked out to a snow covered yard and beyond that was a frosted forest. It looked like it should be on a Christmas card.

In the middle of a semi-circle of sofas and plush looking arm chairs stood a large brick fireplace that Beth and Alejandra were trying to get lit. A grossly oversized Christmas tree stood at the foot of the stairs, rising up past the third floor landing and Sonya wondered absently how they managed to get the star on top.

She thought it’d be the sort of question Thomas would ask and then would do something stupid to try and find out; given half the chance Rachel would too.

“This is awesome,” Aris breathed, letting them lead him over to the dining table and he sat down.

“I’m gonna go start unloading the jeep,” Harriet said, “find some dry clothes.”

Sonya nodded. “I’ll start making drinks.” She heading towards the kitchen to look through the cabinets, casting a glance over to Aris every once in a while. He looked tired, but otherwise fine as he scrolled through his phone and for that Sonya was grateful – she also made a mental note to find out where the nearest ER was. Just in case. And she cursed herself for not having checked sooner.

-oOo-

The rest of the lodge was just as beautiful as the downstairs. Bedrooms were spread out on all three floors and Harriet and Sonya were quick to dibs the one in the attic while the rest of the team fought over the others.

They didn’t go far on their exploration outside, just bundled themselves in coats and gloves to run across to the barn and, just as Beth had assured them, inside was a full sized hockey rink. Fairy lights hung from the rafters where presumably somebody had decorated it for Christmas and they shone like glitter when they reflected off the waiting ice.

As they finished opening random cupboard doors and poking at strange things, they raced for their skates, seeing who could get on the ice first. Sonya won. Opting to pull on her figure skates rather than her hockey ones, she glided and spun smoothly across the rink, enjoying the moment she had to herself. Free from the arguments and drama that life bought, this was the sort of cold she adored.

When her teammates joined her they ran some basic drills and sprints without their gear and sprints turned into full blown races until the night grew late.

They ran back up to the lodge and if Sonya thought it was cold earlier, it was positively freezing now. All she wanted was a hot – albeit delayed – dinner; yet all plans for that were halted as she pulled open the fridge and faltered.

“Guys,” she called back over her shoulder, “what does fully stocked kitchen mean?”

“Um…”

“What?”

“Babe?”

“No. Seriously,” she said, not looking around as the others came up behind her. “We were promised a fully stocked house. Toiletries, kitchen, everything. Weren’t we?”

“Yeah, and we have that,” Beth said, “I paid extra for… that.”

“Then I think you should ask for your money back,” Sonya said, letting the door swing closed on the empty fridge as everyone else started checking out the other cupboards.

They’d bought a single cool box of supplies, with a couple of cartons of milk, specific brands of hot chocolate and tea that the team prefered as well as everyone’s, but mostly Aris’ medications. They’d gone through both cartons of milk with the earlier hot drinks and so nobody had thought to check the cupboards or fridge.

“Is this really it?” Rachel asked, looking across at the food they’d laid out on the counter with a look so bland it couldn’t even be classed as disapproval.

There was an unsealed loaf of bread, a can of beans, three tins of spaghetti and a jar of rice.

Harriet reached out and tipped the bag of bread, letting the slices fall on the counter and they hit the work surface with a wooden sound that bread shouldn’t make.

“It’s stale,” she said, scrunching up her nose in disgust as she peered closer. “And mouldy.”

“I’m hungry,” Ana said quietly and next to her Cleo nodded in agreement.

“There’s not nearly enough here for all of us,” Alejandra said and Beth swore, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she stepped out towards the stairs.

“Does this mean there’s no toiletries either?” Lou asked, looking slightly anxious.

Harriet shrugged. “Probably not,” she said, “why? What do you need?”

-oOo-

Aris glared at his watch and then back up at the girls.

This was absurd and unnecessary.

Sonya was dancing down the aisle of Walmart, high on caffeine and sleep deprivation, her skirt spinning out around her.

Harriet trailed behind her girlfriend, pushing the cart along, laughing every time Sonya giggled or stumbled.

Retail workers kept glancing towards them like they were crazy and Aris couldn’t disagree with them. They were. And he was crazy for letting them drag him along. He knew they had no food – the stale bread definitely doesn’t count as actual food – or real supplies at the cabin, but surely it could’ve waited until after they’d slept? Why did they have to go at three in the morning?

“Ah ha!” Sonya said, plucking a box off the shelf and tossing it in the cart. “Tampons!”

Right.

That was why this couldn’t wait until the morning.

Because someone had run out of tampons.

And despite the fact that there were eight girls living under one roof, apparently none of them had the right brand or type to share.

Frankly, Aris thought it was unreasonable. But he wasn’t stupid enough to say that aloud in a cabin full of said girls; especially when he was outnumbered eight to one.

The only plus side of Walmart at three am was the fact that they had the entire store to themselves. The parking lot was basically empty and the only other people in the store were underpaid employees who didn’t care enough to question them. All they had to contend with was an array of packing boxes and tired staff.

“What else do we need?” Sonya asked, after tossing another two, different, boxes in the cart.

“Actual food?” Aris suggested, rubbing his face tiredly.

“Obviously,” Harriet said, leading them down towards the fresh groceries, putting stuff in the cart seemingly at random.

As long as they got some decent food Aris didn’t care what else they bought. It’s not like they were paying. Beth – citing this as both an emergency and a special occasion – handed over her credit card and told them to make sure they got everything. Christmas was in just a few days and with the cabin not having the food they were promised, they had to fully restock the kitchen. Which meant Aris wasn’t getting out of here and into his warm, fancy looking bed anytime soon. He could picture it now, his four poster, soft and very empty.

“What about these?” Aris asked, holding up a netted bag of kiwis.

“Are they on the list?” Harriet asked, not looking back to see what he had. Sonya did glance across at him from where she was reading the ingredients on a box of something and she rolled her eyes.

“Nope,” she said, “but okay - but if you put them with cornbread, I will kick you out.”

Aris dropped the fruit in the cart, pushing it away from Harriet with a satisfied smile. “We don’t have any cornbread,” he said.

“It’s on the list,” Harriet said, setting three large bags of apples into the cart.

“What next?” Sonya asked.

Aris sighed again, pushing the shopping cart further down the aisle.

Sonya hummed along to the store’s generic Christmas music and even though Aris hadn’t spent that much time in any shops recently it felt as though he’d heard the same four songs a million times before. He put his foot on the bar at the back, pushing himself along like it was a scooter. It was a juvenile action but it gave him a strange sense of satisfaction as he glided along the smooth floor.

Harriet shot him an amused look but had the clear ‘just don’t break anything’ glint in her eyes and carried on.

“Oooh! Cornbread!”

He pushed himself up to stand on the back of the cart and drifted towards the stack of cornbread. The cart jolted slightly as the pile of apples tumbled over. All the weight in the cart changed it flipped backwards.

Aris swore as the front wheels rose off of the floor. He fumbled to try and step down but the cart just tipped more, like a rearing horse pawing at the air. The food inside shifted and Aris’ ass hit the floor hard as everything crashed out around him.

He heard Harriet shout his name but the bags of apples were already rolling and he grunted in discomfort as they, followed by the kiwi’s landed on his chest heavily.

Letting his head fall against the cold floor he groaned, wondering why he ever agreed to this stupid shopping trip in the first place as he watched a jar of pasta sauce roll under the shelf.

The cart was lifted off of him and both Harriet and Sonya looked down at him in a mixture of confusion and concern.

“What-?” Sonya broke off with a slight shake of her head. “How?”

“I slipped,” he said, pushing the fruit off of him.

Harriet shook her head, trying to contain a laugh. “Are you alright?”

He gave himself the usual onceover. Head, arms, hands, back, ass, legs, feet. He nodded. He was fine.

They picked up the groceries and Harriet pulled Aris up off the floor by his forearms. She gave him her own glance over and smiled softly. “Please don’t break anything,” she said, managing to sound both scolding and warm. “Christmas in ER was not on my to do list. Also, Sonya said the nearest one is nearly an hour away.”

Aris smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

Harriet brushed his apology aside with a ruffle of his hair but she took the cart from him with one hand, and held his with the other as they continued through the shop.

“C’mon,” Sonya said, linking her arm through Aris’, “we’ve just gotta get a turkey and then we can get out of here.”

-oOo-

Sonya – being a college student – knew full well about the power of memes. She also knew that her brother and his friends would most probably be oblivious to them.

So when she sent the text with a mischievous smile on her lips, she was fully prepared for the chaos that was about to ensue.  

_To: Frypan;_

_How long do you microwave a turkey for?_

The message was marked as read almost instantly but it stayed like that for several minutes before Sonya’s phone started to ring in her hand.

“Hey, Fry,” she said as she answered it, exchanging an amused look with Harriet and Aris who were sitting at the dining room table with her. “How’s it going?”

 _“Sonya,”_ he said in way of a greeting, his voice flat and almost disappointed. _“Sonya, no. We let you have Christmas away for one year and you’re sending me messages like that. No. You can’t do that.”_

Sonya pressed her hand over mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud.

“It says on the packet I can though,” she said.

_“Okay, first of all what sort of microwave do you have that you can fit a whole ass turkey in?”_

Harriet snorted into her coffee.

_“Second, if you microwave a turkey it’s just gonna be dry and nasty and nobody’s gonna be wanting to eat that; especially at Christmas. Thirdly, what the fuck? I taught you better than that!”_

Sonya couldn’t hold it any longer. She caught Aris’ eye and the three of them burst out laughing. She pressed her forehead against the table as she tried to regain her breath but the sound of Frypan’s confused questioning only made her laugh harder.

“I’m sorry,” she said, clutching a stitch in her side as she sat back up. “I’m sorry but it was just too tempting.”

 _“Nuh uh. That was too far,”_ Frypan said and then raised his voice slightly. _“Newt. Newt! Your sister is mean and is dead to me!”_

_“Frypan, what the—give me that.”_

Sonya couldn’t help the way her smile softened as the accents changed and after a slight scuffle, her brother’s voice came through the line.

 _“Hey, Sonya,”_ he said, followed by a thud like he’d slapped someone away. _“Why is Fry – whose supposed to be cooking our food – looking like he’s about to have an aneurysm and blaming it on you?”_

“All I did was ask him how long you microwave a turkey for,” Sonya said innocently, switching the call off loudspeaker and drifting away from the table.

Newt was silent for a second as if was checking he heard her right before he laughed. _“That’d do it,”_ he said and it sounded like he too, was moving to somewhere quieter.

Sonya sat on the stairs, looking out of the window as yet another snowball fight. This time it looked like Alejandra was winning.

 _“How’s the mountains?”_ Newt asked.

“Cold,” Sonya replied, but couldn’t keep the smile from her voice. “But beautiful. I’ll send you pictures.”

 _“And how’s the ice?”_ he said.

“We have a full rink here. I didn’t even know you could get lodges in the mountains with full ice hockey rinks in the barn and I don’t know how she found this place. It’s insane. I had to teach them all how to use a Zamboni. Half of them have played since little league but didn’t have a clue how to smooth a rink,” she said, rolling her eyes at the memory. “Nobody died, but Cleo did nearly take out her own twin – Ana got over it eventually— and Beth isn’t allowed the keys because she’s too interested to know what happens when someone gets run over and dragged across the ice.”

Newt gave a slight laugh. _“Sounds like Gally,”_ he said and Sonya couldn’t disagree. It was weird sometimes how many similarities their friendship groups shared. They joked sometimes about how they’d found parallel versions of each other.

“How’s everyone there? Has Gally tried to murder anyone yet?” she asked, despite wherever Newt had moved to, she could still hear them squabbling in the background. “Who is there anyway? It sounds like you’ve got a houseful.”

 _“We do,”_ Newt said. _“Gally bought a girl home for Christmas, Brenda and it turns out that her dad is one of Thomas’ old foster fathers – one of the good ones – and there’s this kid, Chuck, who Thomas used to be close with who still lives there, so they both got invited as well as the usual lot.”_

The usual lot. Sonya listed automatically. Newt, Thomas, Minho, Fry, Gally, Ben, Zart and Winston. Plus three extras. It made her glad that she wasn’t there. It sounded as if it was going to be crazy.

“You should get back to them before they try and kill each other,” she said, resting her head against the bannister rail.

 _“It sounds like Thomas and Gally are already trying that,”_ Newt said.

“Just don’t let them get out the monopoly then there’ll be actual bloodshed.”

Newt made an agreeing noise. _“Nah, Winston bought a whole bunch of new games just in the hopes that Thomas and Gally don’t get too competitive,”_ he said.

“And what, that you and Thomas don’t team up too much?”

 Newt made an offended noise. _“I don’t know what you mean,”_ he said and Sonya smiled softly to herself.

“Happy Christmas, Newt,” she said after a moment of soft silence.

She could hear the smile in his voice as he replied, _“Merry Christmas, Sonya.”_

_“Is that Sonya?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Gimme, gimme.”_

_“Minho, I—fucking hell, give me a chance.”_

_“Happy Christmas, Sonny!”_

Sonya couldn’t help but smile brighter at Minho’s cheery tone and the stupid nickname. “Hey, Minho. Happy Christmas!”

_“Nice one on giving Fry an aneurysm. He really thought you were gonna microwave it. You should’ve seen his face! Wait, never mind, I’ll send you the pictures.”_

Sonya wondered how early they’d broken into the Eggnog, and if Gally had made it then it didn’t matter. One glass was enough to make even those with the highest of tolerances tipsy.

“Nah, he should know by now that Lou cooks and we just do as we’re told,” she said, glancing towards the kitchen at the sound of raised voices. “I’ve gotta go before one of this lot sheds blood.” She ignored the pang in her chest and a small part of her regretted not going home for the holidays. “Give everyone my love and don’t murder Gally.”

 _“There goes the evening’s entertainment,”_ Minho said. _“And he only got stabbed one time.”_

“Uh huh.” She nodded. “One time is enough.”

 _“Love you,”_ he said, _“don’t microwave any turkeys.”_

She laughed. “Love you too.”

 _“Sonya sends her love!”_ Minho shouted, presumably to whoever was in the room with him.

_“Hi Sonya!”_

_“We miss you!”_

_“I love you!”_

_“Tell Harriet and Aris we miss them!”_

_“Happy Christmas!”_

Sonya smiled, her heart warming at the voices of her family. “Hey, Merry Christmas!” she said, “I’ll see you all soon!”

There was a chorus of goodbyes before the call was cut and Sonya was left staring at her home screen.

It was a group photo from their championship final game last season. Newt, Minho, Thomas, Gally and Fry had travelled across the country and turned up to surprise her. After they won, one of the official photographers had snapped a picture of her, Harriet and Aris stood in the middle of their group. Their helmets were off, faces red and sweaty but the smiles on their faces were bright and full of joy over their win. It was the first time in her life that Sonya felt like she had people to rely on.

Pushing herself up to her feet, she drifted back through into the kitchen. Cleo and Ana were moving in perfect tandem around each other, stirring pots and cutting vegetables. It was a strangely satisfying thing to watch, two faces the same moving in such synchronisation that very quickly Sonya lost track of who was who.

“Where’s Aris gone?” Sonya asked, leaning against Harriet’s side, where she was sitting at the dining table. Sonya’s fingers traced along her shoulder absently and Harriet melted back into her touch.

“Outside with Rachel and Ali,” Harriet said, glancing up from her laptop where it looked like she was doing work. “I think they’re building a snowman.”

Sonya looked towards the den, Beth was spread out across the couch, her laptop on her knees and headphones in. Lou was lying on her stomach in front of the fire, her own earphones in as she sketched away. Out of the windows she could see Aris, Rachel and Alejandra rolling a giant ball of snow through the backyard, even from a distance she could see a lightness in their expressions that was rare for their mismatched team.

“I think he likes the snow,” she said, smiling to herself as she played with one of Harriet’s stray curls. Harriet followed her gaze and her nose scrunched up sweetly as she smiled.

“He does,” she said, “he will stay out there until he goes blue though.”

“Well, as long as he doesn’t come crying to me when he’s cold…” Sonya trailed off pointedly, but they both knew that she would drop everything the second he so much as sniffled.

Harriet slid her arms around Sonya’s waist. Looking up at her with a soft look as she leant her head against her gilfriend’s side.

“How’s the house of horrors?” she asked and Sonya’s lips quirked at the fond nickname for her brother’s apartment building.

“Good,” she replied. “They’re good. They send their love. They’ve finally banned Monopoly.”

Harriet snorted. “That’s something then.”

-oOo-

The snowman was built with surprising speed. It was a little bit crooked and misshapen but they decked it out in a spare blue hockey jersey and with its wonky carrot nose it was declared the Dolphin’s new mascot. Sonya even made it outside to snap a picture to send to their coach Ximena who wished them a happy Christmas in return and warned them that if they killed each other they’d all be running laps til Christmas. Next Christmas.

As Aris, Rachel and Alejandra went to get changed into some dryer clothes, Cleo and Ana called out that dinner was nearly ready and Harriet cleared her stuff off of the table. Beth and Lou rose up from the sitting room and they started to lay out the table, as Lou sung Christmas songs softly, more to herself than anything else.

But Sonya smiled quietly as she listened to her sing and with Harriet and the other girls bustling around her, she let herself sink into the warm atmosphere. Dishes of stuffing and potatoes were laid out, the smells mixed together, giving a strange sense of comfort as the fire crackled in the background.

It was strange, she decided, to see the team like this. They were relaxed and open with each other, away from the stresses of campus and the disaster zones of their families. They were all content to just be together and it was nice to see the team’s bond knitting together off the rink. Sonya knew it would only bring them closer for when they played. It was also strange to see their harmony bring even Beth and Rachel’s rivalry to an end for a while. Sonya just hoped it would last.

They sat down for dinner and the festive mood only grew, crackers were cracked and party hats were forced on the tops of people’s heads. Bad jokes were told and cheap plastic toys were put together and as Sonya looked around at her dysfunctional group of friends, this was exactly where she wanted to be.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas ♥


End file.
